Abstract

Purpose – the purpose of this article is to explore mentoring as a dialogic practice. It develops Bokenko and Gantt's (2000) concept of dialogic mentoring to propose a new theorisation of mentoring as a relational, embodied, spatial affective, and ethical practice.

Design/methodology/approach – the article reports on a mentoring project that took place in a post-1992 UK University which was seeking to enhance its research culture. This project used an innovative methodological approach in which mentor and mentee wrote and shared diary entries as means of building more effective and constructive mentoring experiences, and as a vehicle for reflexively analysing the mentoring process.

Findings – the project outcomes were: first, a deepened appreciation and reflexive evaluation of the role played by dairies and writing in the enactment of dialogic mentoring; second, the development of a theoretical framework to enhance understanding of dialogic mentoring; and third, the generation of a dialogic mentoring model encompassing multiple dimensions of the process.

Practical implications – the article provides insights to support methodological innovation in mentoring practice; it links mentoring practice with theory development to enhance mentor and mentee collaboration and reflexivity; it offers an example of good mentoring practice that could be scaled up within educational institutions wishing to enhance their research culture.

Originality/ value – the article provides insights into a methodologically innovative mentoring practice to assist mentors and mentees in enhancing collaborative reflexivity during mentoring; it also proposes a new theorisation of mentoring practices.